Some Recommended Books in Hanafi Fiqh

Question:

Could you possibly provide me a list of books from beginner to advanced levels through intermediate for the standard hanafi curriculum. i assume beginners is nur al-idah and advanced is radd al-muhtar.

Answer:

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate

Some Recommended Books in Hanafi Fiqh
Compiled by Noura Shamma
from Sidi Faraz Rabbani’s lesson on ‘Recommended Books’ in his sessions on al-Khulasa in Hanafi fiqh

The books are of three types:
1. Relating to Worship.
2. Those normally studied in traditional curriculums.
3. Reference works.

Relating to Worship:
I. Nur al-Idah – this is the main matn/text studied in fiqh of worship.
Maraqi al-Falah, is the sharh/commentary on the text. Both of these are by the same author, Imam al-Shurunbulali.
Al-Hashiya (Marginal Notes) of Imam al-Tahtawi is also important to have.
– Useful to have each of these three works separately.
– Damascus edition is the best; avoid the Beirut editions – not useful at all.
– Another edition (?) of Nur al-Idah with footnotes by: Abd al-Jalil ‘Ata and Abd al-Hamid Mahmoud, is available and good.
II. Al-Hadiyah al-Ala’aiyyah – by ‘Alaadin ibn Abidin, son of Ibn Abidin, who is the reference on fatwa in the school. Al-Hadiyah is based on his father’s work, though he differs on a few matters. The Hadiyah is a summary on the final word on worship; also has a very useful section on the fiqh of halal and haram and section on Aqidah. It was intended as a work for elementary level students.
– Damascus edition is good; look for edition with notes by Shaykh al-Burhani.
– Should be read along with Nur al-Idah.
III. Al-Halabi al-Kabir – by Shaykh Ibrahim al-Halabi. Photocopying is the only way to get a copy of this work.

Books in the Traditional Curriculum:

I. Al-Lubab fi Sharh al-Kitab – by Abd al-Ghani al-Maydani (who was a student of Ibn Abidin). This work is a sharh/commentary on Mukhtasar al-Quduri.
– Quduri is the first work studied in fiqh across all Muslim lands.
– Available editions are mediocre.
II. Al-Tas’hil al-Daruri – Mawlana ‘Ashiq al-Ilahi.
– Published by Dar al-Arqam
– Contemporary work; puts the sections of Quduri in a Q&A format.
– Indian commentaries on Quduri, some available on-line, on albalagha.net bookstore
– If you can read Urdu, Al-Subh al-Nuri is a good commentary.
– In Turkish, Muqaya al-Quduri is very useful.
In Arab lands:
Al-Ikhtiyar – by Imam al-Musuli; commentary on the matn of Qurduri.
– Edition by Shaykh Muhammed Adnan Darwish published by Dar al-Arqam is available.
– If you can wait, a new edition by Shaykh Su’aib al-Arna’ut is coming soon.
Related Text:
I. Fath Bab al-‘Inayah – Sharh al-Nuqaya – by Mullah Ali al-Qari.
– Published in 3 vols. by Dar al-Arqam
– Very clear, one of clearer works available
– Give legal reasoning and textual evidence
– Two editions on the market, both mediocre
III. Multaqa al-Abhur – Ibrahim al-Halabi (d.956 A.H.) is a matn. Title means the meeting of oceans. In this work, he gathered four major mutun of the mathhab, and added useful issues from other sources as well.
– Contains masa’il/issues of all four texts/matn.
– Language very clear.
– Text was used extensively in Ottoman lands; he was head teacher at Sultan Muhammed al-Fatih mosque and madrassah, which was one of the highest teaching positions in Ottoman lands.
– Has two great commentaries on it, by Shaykh Zada and Shaykh al-Haskafi (see below).
IV. Majma’ al-Anhur – Shaykh Zada
– Extremely useful, clearest commentary in Hanafi fiqh; he defines all the terms, gives examples, and clear explanation.
– Old edition is excellent; Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyah is a disaster, avoid.
– Shaykh Zada has a Hashiya on al-Baydawi’s tafsir, the scholars said, “If it wasn’t for Shaykh Zada, al-Baydawi wouldn’t have been understood.”
– Also has a commentary on Qawaid al-Irab of Ibn Hisham.
V. Al-Durr al-Muntaqa – by Shaykh al-Haskari, who is the author of al-Durr al-Mukhtar on which Ibn Abidin wrote his Hashiya.
– This commentary is the exact opposite of Shaykh Zada; he uses the most concise expressions possible. He said what counts is the weightiness of the secrets and not the size of the volumes.
– It is to 1/3 size of Shaykh Zada’s work but has two to three times as many issues.

Final work studied: Al-Hidayah – by al-Marghinani
– Called the pride of the Hanafis.
– Took 12 years to write, during which the author was constantly fasting (secretly).
– It’s only a 1000 pages, but he really distilled it; it is the culminating fruit of the Hanafi mathhab.
There are a number of important works on it; need two of them:
1. Hashiyat al-Lakhnawi.
– He explains basically just explains the text of the Hidayah without elaborations. It is very clear.
– Available in Damascus as a photocopy.

2. Fath al-Qadir – by Al-Kamal ibn al-Humam.
– The edition you want is published with two other commentaries: al-Kafiyah by al-Khawarizmi and al-‘Inayah by Akmal al-Din.
– Bulaq published this old edition – reprints are available.
– Fath al-Qadir builds on the Hidayah, doesn’t explain out the text entirely. It is the greatest, most brilliant commentary in the mathhab.
– Al-Kamal ibn al-Humam is the arguably last person agreed on in the Ummah to be a mujtahid imam; he is buried by request right next to Sidi Ibn ‘Ata’illah in Cairo.

References:
I. Legal Dictionaries:
1. Al-Mughrib – by al-Mutarrazi, he was a student of the students of al-Zamakhshari. Very useful.
2. Tilbat al-Talabah – by Imam al-Nasafi.
– Arranged by chapters of fiqh
– Explains terms in some detail.
– Dar al-Nafa’is (Beirut?) is only one worth having – cross-references terms.
3. Al-Misbah al-Munir – by Al-Fayumi.
– Not specific to Hanafi fiqh
– General dictionary of Arabic
– Explains well, easier to understand than other Arabic/Arabic dictionaries like al-Qamus al-Muhet.II. Hashiyat Ibn Abidin
– He is know in the Indian subcontinent as Shami
– This is the work for legal details.
– Bulaq edition is a must, its 5 vols., 6th volume is a completion and 7th are notes by al-Rafidi.

Some other recommendations:

1. Al-Durar al-Mubahah fi al-Hathir wa al-Ibahah – by al-Nahlawi
– This is available in electronic format.
– Contains the fiqh of halal and haram – he expanded the section in al-Hidayah. Very practical
– Some parts of it are translated in Reliance

2. Al-Tariqa al-Muhammadiya – by al-Birgivi.
– Translated into English and published http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0941532682/102-7230377-9072915?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance
– Book on taqwa, defines the importance and need for taqwa and knowledge.
– Helps to map it out – lots of cross-references.
– Ulama gave a lot of attention to this work; still taught today in Turkey
– Many commentaries on it, including:
1. Al-Bariqah fi Sharh al-Tariqa – Imam al-Khadimi, in 2 big volumes.
2. Al-Hadiqah al-Nadiyah – Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi, also in 2 volumes
– Both are great commentaries; fiqh of taqwa and inward sins, very important.
3. In Arabic, two CDs to purchase:
1. al-Mawsu’ah al-Shamilah; have 980 books on it. worth getting, available free from Sidi Faraz.
2. Jami’ al-Fiqh al-Islami – produced by Harf (www.harf.com) in Egypt. It costs about 100$. It has about 100 books in it; all the major reference works of each mathhabs as well as biographies, dictionaries and has excellent search capabilities.
4. Awarif al-Ma’arif – by al-Suhrawardi; one of the key works in tasawuf.
5. Works of Shaykh Al-Alawi al-Makki – many available now in Ghazali bookstore.
6. Miftah al-Jannah – by Shaykh Ahmad al-Haddad; is translated but the Arabic is worth having; also available at Ghazali.